Abstract
An optimal extraction method for the removal of templates from molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) is presented. The extraction method is based on pressurized hot water extraction (PHWE). PHWE was evaluated by application to three distinctly colored MIPs for chlorophyll (green), quercetin (yellow) and phthalocynine (dark blue) with subsequent monitoring of template removal and template bleeding by an ultraviolet spectrophotometer. The templates were washed-off and the extraction efficiency (EE) was compared to that of soxhlet and ultrasonic extraction methods. PHWE employed hot water at an optimal temperature of 220 °C, pressure of 50 bars and flow rate of 2 mL min−1 to thoroughly wash-off the respective templates from their MIPs. The EE evaluated for PHWE was over 99.6% for all the MIPs with no subsequent or minimal template bleeding (<0.01%). The washing procedure was simple and relatively fast as it was achieved in 70 min at the most. At 95% confidence level (n = 3), soxhlet and ultrasonic recorded EE that was not significantly different (<94.5% in all cases) from that of PHWE (>99.6% in all cases). Soxhlet and ultrasonic had washing procedures that were slower (over 18 h) and employed large quantities (400 mL) of organic solvents modified with acids. The percentage relative standard deviations (%RSD) for the EE and recovery results were less than 2.3% in all cases indicating the high reproducibility of the method. Overall, the three methods performed comparably in extracting templates. PHWE seems to be the method of choice as it employed water which poses no environmental threat.
References
Sellergren B (2001) In: Sellergren (ed) Molecularly imprinted polymers. Man made mimics of antibodies and their applications in analytical chemistry B, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 305–322
Baggiani C, Anfossi L, Giovannoli C (2008) Analyst 133:719–730
He C, Long Y, Pan J, Li K, Liu F (2007) J Biochem Biophys Methods 70:133–150
Pichon V (2007) J Chromatogr A 1152:41–53
Tamayo FG, Turiel E, Martin-Esteban A (2007) J Chromatogr A 1152:32–40
Alexander C, Andersson HS, Andersson LI, Ansell RJ, Kirsch N, Nicholls IA, O’Mahony J, Whitcombe MJ (2006) J Mol Recognit 19:106–114
Martin P, Wilson ID, Jones GR, Jones K (1998) In: Hill HM, Wilson ID (eds) Drug development assay approaches including molecular imprinting and biomarkers. Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, pp 21–27
Andersson LI, Paprica A, Arvidsson T (1997) Chromatographia 46:57–65
Mullett W, Lai EPC (1998) Anal Chem 70:3636–3641
Sellergren B (1994) Anal Chem 66:1578–1582
Moller K, Crescenzi C, Nilsson U (2004) Anal Bioanal Chem 378:197–204
Ellwanger A, Berggren C, Bayoudh S, Crecenzi C, Karlsson L, Owens PK, Ensing K, Cormack P, Sherrington D, Sellergren B (2001) Analyst 126:784–792
Peng-Ju W, Jun Y, Qing-De S, Yun G, Xiao-Lan Z, Ji-Bao C (2007) Chin J Anal Chem 35:484–488
Teo CC, Tan SN, Yong JWH, Hew CS, Ong ES (2010) J Chromatogr A 1217:2484–2494
Turner C, Turner P, Jacobson G, Almgren K, Waldeback M, Sjöberg P, Karlsson EN, Markides KE (2006) Green Chem 8:949–959
Richter P, Sepulveda B, Oliva R, Calderon K, Seguel R (2003) J Chromatogr A 994:169–177
Andersson T, Hartonen K, Hyotylainen T, Riekkola ML (2002) Anal Chim Acta 466:93–100
Hyotylainen T, Andersson T, Hartonen K, Kuosmanen K, Riekkola ML (2000) Anal Chem 72:3070–3076
Ong ES, Len SM (2003) Anal Chim Acta 482:81–89
Ong ES, Cheong JSH, Goh D (2006) J Chromatogr A 1112:92–102
Batlokwa BS (2009) In: An ion imprinted polymer for the selective extraction of mercury(II) ions in aqueous media MSc thesis, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa, pp 38
Pichon V, Chapuis-Hugon F (2008) Anal Chim Acta 622:48–61
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Research Foundation of South Africa, Agilent Technologies (USA), UNDP/GEF SGP, Andrew Mellon Foundation and STINT.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Batlokwa, B.S., Mokgadi, J., Nyokong, T. et al. Optimal Template Removal from Molecularly Imprinted Polymers by Pressurized Hot Water Extraction. Chromatographia 73, 589–593 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10337-010-1884-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10337-010-1884-3